JPH04206678A - Manufacture of printed circuit board - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize reduction in size of a manufacturing facilities by simultaneously coating both front and rear surfaces with a resist ink, while forming a part not coated with the resist ink along the one side of front and rear surfaces of a laminated plate provided oppositely to each other and by holding the plate at the one surface thereof for the transfer. CONSTITUTION:Doctor blades 35, 36 are provided at the down-stream side of an ink reservoir 33 when viewing these blades in the rotating direction of a roll coater 31, the resist ink uncoated portions 39, 40 are formed at both side edges of a laminated plate in such a manner as scraping the resist ink adhered to the surface of both end portions of roll coater. Doctor blades 37, 38 are provided in contact with a roll coater 32 so that both side edges of the rear surface of a laminated plate 30 is not coated with the resist ink. An endless belt and a holding roller are set in contact with the resist ink uncoated portions 39, 40 to transfer the plate to the transfer apparatus of the next stage and then to the position of a transfer robot to transfer the plate to the drying process line.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a printed wiring board, in particular, a process in which a resist ink is applied on a conductive layer laminated on both sides of an insulating layer, dried, exposed, and developed. The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a printed wiring board by forming a resist pattern and etching a conductive layer using the resist pattern as a mask to form a predetermined conductive pattern.

(Prior art) In the conventional manufacturing of printed wiring boards, a resist is formed on a laminate board in which conductive layers such as copper are laminated on both sides of an insulating board. Printing methods, dry film methods, electrodeposition methods, and liquid resist methods are known. The screen printing method directly forms a predetermined resist pattern using screen printing techniques. In addition, the dry film method forms a resist film by pasting a film made of a resist material onto the conductive layer, and the electrodeposition method forms a resist film on the conductive layer by electrodeposition. The resist method uses an ink roller such as a roller coater to apply resist ink onto the conductive layer. In these methods, a patterned film with a predetermined pattern is laminated on the resist layer thus formed. The resist pattern is then exposed to ultraviolet light and developed to form a resist pattern.

After forming a predetermined resist pattern on the conductive layer in this way, etching is performed using this resist pattern as a mask to selectively remove the conductive layer to form a conductor pattern and produce a printed wiring board. There is.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) Among the conventional printed wiring board manufacturing methods described above, the screen printing method is a process in which the resist pattern itself is formed by printing, so the process is simple, but the screen printing machine is It has the disadvantage that it is expensive and therefore costs high. In addition, the tri-film method has the disadvantage that it is expensive to form a dry film, resulting in high cost, and also has the disadvantage that fine patterns cannot be formed. Furthermore, the electrodeposition method requires expensive electrodeposition equipment, resulting in high costs. Although the liquid resist method does not have these drawbacks, it does have the drawback of requiring large manufacturing equipment.

In other words, in the conventional liquid resist method, when resist is formed on the conductive layer laminated on both sides of a laminate, if the resist is applied to both sides at the same time, the laminate cannot be transported, so it is necessary to process one side at a time. I didn't get it. That is, after applying resist ink to one surface with a roll coater and drying it, resist ink is applied to the other surface and allowed to dryffl. For this reason, when using one roll coater, it is necessary to return the laminate to the roll coater position after forming a resist on one surface, which lengthens the transport path for the laminate and results in production equipment The installation area becomes extremely large. Furthermore, when two roll coaters are used, although it is not necessary to return the laminate to the roll coater, two resist drying areas are required, which also has the drawback of increasing the size of the manufacturing equipment. Furthermore, the conventional method of forming resists on the front and back surfaces of the laminate in separate steps has the drawback of being inefficient and having a low throughput.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method that eliminates the drawbacks of the conventional liquid resist method described above and allows printed wiring boards to be manufactured efficiently using small equipment with a small installation area.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The method for manufacturing a printed wiring board of the present invention includes manufacturing a printed wiring board by patterning a conductive layer of a laminate in which conductive layers are laminated on both sides of an insulating board. At the same time, resist ink is applied to both the front and back surfaces while forming a portion where no resist ink is applied along at least one opposing side of both the front and back surfaces of the board, and the laminate is conveyed while holding the laminate in an example where the resist ink is not applied. After that, it is dried.

In the manufacturing method of the present invention, resist ink is simultaneously applied to both the front and back surfaces of the laminate and dried, so printed wiring boards can be manufactured efficiently and the installation area of manufacturing equipment can be reduced. can do. Further, even if resist ink is applied to both the front and back surfaces, the resist ink is not applied to the opposite side edges of both the front and back surfaces, so this side edge can be used to transport the laminate. Therefore, the applied resist film is not adversely affected by the transport of the laminate.

In a preferred embodiment of the manufacturing method of the present invention, resist ink is applied to both the front and back surfaces of the laminate while being conveyed in the horizontal direction between a pair of upper and lower ink rollers, and both edges on which resist ink is not applied are applied. After conveying the laminate by applying a roller to it, a robot arm grips a hole formed in one side edge of the laminate, rotates the laminate 90 degrees around a horizontal axis to a vertical position, and inserts a bottle into the hole. In this vertical position, successive laminates are passed through a drying area to dry the resist ink.

In such an embodiment, since the laminates are passed through the drying area in a vertical position, a large number of laminates can be passed through the drying area close to each other, thereby reducing the length of the drying area. This allows the entire manufacturing equipment to be further downsized.

(Example) FIG. 1 is a plan view diagrammatically showing the overall configuration of manufacturing equipment for carrying out the method for manufacturing printed wiring boards according to the present invention. A through hole is drilled in a predetermined position in a laminate board with copper layers laminated on both sides of an insulating board, and the inside surface is plated to electrically connect the conductive layer on the front side and the conductive layer on the back side. Fill the through holes with hole-filling ink to protect them and flatten the surface. Also, a pair of holes are bored in one side edge of the laminate, the function of which will be explained later. In this example, the thickness of this laminate is 1.6 mm, and the vertical and horizontal dimensions are 500 x 330 mm. The thus pretreated laminate is loaded into the feeder 11. While the large number of laminates set in the laminate loading machine 11 are being conveyed one after another by the conhair 12, charges on both the front and back surfaces are removed by a static eliminator 13 and a dust cleaner 14, and dust is removed. The receiver is removed by a laminate receiver 15. The laminates whose surfaces have been cleaned in this manner are placed one after another on a conhair 16 and sent to a resist ink coating machine 17 having a pair of roll coaters. This coating machine 1
In step 7, as shown in FIG. 2, roll coaters 31 and 32 are disposed above and below, and the laminate 30 is passed between them in a horizontal state to apply resist ink to both the front and back surfaces at the same time. In this example, the thickness of these resist ink layers is such that the thickness after drying is 20 to 30 μm.

As shown in FIG. 2, ink reservoirs 33 and 34 for supplying resist ink to roll coaters 31 and 32 are provided so as to be in contact with the respective roll coaters. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 3, doctor blades 35 and 36 are brought into contact with both ends of the roll coater 31 so that resist ink is not applied to both edges of both the front and back surfaces of the laminate 30. That is, these doctor blades 35 and 36 are provided on the downstream side of the ink reservoir 33 when viewed in the rotational direction of the roll coater 31, and are used to scrape off resist ink adhering to the surfaces of both ends of the roll coater, thereby cleaning the surface of the laminate. Avoid applying resist ink to both side edges. Similarly, a pair of doctor blades 37 and 38 (see FIG. 2) are provided in contact with the lower roll coater 32 to prevent resist ink from being applied to both side edges of the back surface of the laminate plate 30. In this way, resist ink is simultaneously applied to both the front and back surfaces of the laminate 3o, and as shown in FIG. 3, a resist ink applied area 41 is formed sandwiched between areas 39 and 40 on both side edges where no resist ink is applied. . Although FIG. 3 shows the state of the front surface, the back surface is also in the same state.

FIG. 4 shows the first and second transport devices 18 and 19 that transport the laminate 30 coated with resist ink by the roll coater 3L 32.

The first conveying device 18 includes a pair of endless healds 42 and 43 arranged so as to come into contact with a portion of the back surface of the laminate 30 that is not coated with resist ink, and a pair of endless healds 42 and 43 that are arranged so as to come into contact with a portion of the back surface of the laminate 30 that is not coated with resist ink. Part 39.40
A plurality of pressing rollers 44.
45. Endless belts 46 and 47
is passed between a pair of drive rollers 46 and 47 and driven in the direction shown by arrow A.

The laminated plate 3o that has passed between the roller coaters 31 and 32 is conveyed while being sandwiched between an endless belt 42, 43 and pressing rollers 45 and 46, and then transferred to the second conveying device 1 at the next stage.
However, since these endless belts and pressing rollers are configured to come into contact with the uncoated portion of the laminate, the resist ink layer applied to the laminate will not be adversely affected. do not have.

The second conveyance device 19 has a pair of drive rollers 51 and 52.
The interlock includes an endless belt 53 and a number of spring clips 54 attached at equal intervals to both side edges of the endless belt. These spring crimps 54 are attached to the laminated plate 3 by the spring action.
It is configured to maintain a tension of 0. At this time, since the back surface of the laminate is held floating so as not to contact the surface of the endless heald 53, the resist ink layer applied to the back surface of the laminate is not adversely affected.

As described above, the laminate 30 held by the spring clip 54 of the second conveying device 19 rotates the laminate in the horizontal state by 90 degrees around the axis in the horizontal plane and feeds it into the drying line in a vertical position. It is transported to the position of the delivery robot 20 (see FIG. 1). As shown in FIG.
6 are bored, and the delivery robot 1-20 has a pair of pins inserted into each of these holes. As shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, a pair of pins 61, 62 inserted into one hole 55 and a pair of pins 63, 64 inserted into the other hole 56 are arranged so that they approach or separate from each other. It is attached to the tip of the robot arm so that it can be driven.

FIGS. 7A to 7C are diagrammatic side views illustrating the operation of receiving and passing the laminated plate 30 transported by the second transport device 19↓ to the drying line by the delivery robot 20 having the above-mentioned pins 61 to 64. It is a diagram. First, as shown in FIG. 7A, the robot arm is rotated toward the laminate plate with the distance between the pins 6L 62 and 63.64 reduced, and these pins are inserted into the holes 55 and 56 made in the laminate plate 30. (See Figure 6A). Next, as shown in FIG. 6B, pin 6
1 and 62 and pins 63 and 6.
4 to allow these pins to hold the laminate.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 7B, the robot arm having the pins 61 to 64 is rotated 90 degrees about the arcuate locus B. This movement causes the laminate 30 to rotate 90 degrees about axis C in the horizontal plane into a vertical position. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 7C, the pin 61 is
The robot arm 64 is moved horizontally forward as shown by the arrow, and the pins 71, 72 provided on the drying device 21 (see FIG. 1) are inserted into the holes 55 and 56. As mentioned above, the distance between the pins 6L, 62 and 63°64 inserted into these holes 55 and 56 is widened, so a gap is created between these pins, and pins 71 and 72 are inserted into this gap. can do. In this way, the laminates 30 that are successively transported by the second transport device 19 are transferred to the drying device 20 by the delivery robot 20.
Uke can be passed sequentially in a position perpendicular to .

In the drying device 21, a pin 7 supporting the laminate 30 is installed.
The resist ink coated on both the front and back surfaces is dried by heating the laminate with an appropriate heating means while transporting the laminate by moving the laminate 1.72. In this example, since the laminates 30 are conveyed in a vertical position in the drying device 21, the successive laminates can be brought closer to each other, and therefore the length of the drying device can be shortened. As a result, the entire manufacturing equipment can be made smaller. After drying the resist ink applied to both the front and back sides in this way,
The laminate 30 is received by a receiver 22, a predetermined number of laminates are stocked as a unit, and further conveyed to the next process via a curve compare 23. In the next process, the resist film is patterned by exposure and development as usual, and etching is performed using this resist pattern as a mask to selectively remove the conductive layer and form a conductor pattern, completing the printed wiring board. do. Since these processes are not essential parts of the present invention, they will not be described further.

By the above-described method for manufacturing a printed wiring board according to the present invention, a high-density printed wiring board having a conductor pattern with a pattern width of 80 μm and a pattern interval of 80 μm could be manufactured at a high throughput with a yield of 98χ.

Additionally, the installation area of the manufacturing equipment was approximately the same as that of conventional manufacturing equipment with similar throughput.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but can be modified and modified in many ways. For example, in the embodiments described above, portions to which resist ink is not applied are formed on both side edges of the laminate, but it is also possible to provide a portion to which resist ink is not applied to one side edge. However, in this case, it is necessary to use a mechanism that transports the laminate while holding the laminate so as to sandwich the side edge on which the resist ink is not applied. Further, in the above-described embodiments, the laminate was dried while being held in a vertical position, but it is also possible to dry the laminate in a horizontal position. Furthermore, in the embodiment described above,
A laminate plate in a horizontal state coated with resist ink is
Although a pin was passed through a hole formed in the laminate to rotate it by 0 degrees, it is also possible to rotate it by grasping the side edge portion where no resist ink is applied with something like a nail.

Further, various devices having similar functions can be used as devices for conveying and holding the laminate.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, in the printed wiring board manufacturing method according to the present invention, resist ink can be applied to both the front and back surfaces of the laminate at the same time, so the installation area of manufacturing equipment is significantly smaller than in the past. be able to. In addition, in an embodiment in which a large number of laminates are conveyed vertically in the drying area, the manufacturing equipment can be further downsized.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the overall configuration of the equipment for implementing the printed wiring board manufacturing method according to the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 similarly show the configuration of the resist ink coating device. A side view and a plan view, FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the configuration of the conveyance device after applying resist ink, FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the configuration of the laminated plate coated with resist ink, and FIGS. 6 A and B are FIGS. 7A-7C are diagrams showing the movement of a pin provided at the tip of the arm of a robot that transfers the laminated plate to the drying device in a vertical position; FIGS. 11... Laminate board loading machine 12... Conhair 13
... Static eliminator 14 ... Dust cleaner 1
7...Resist ink coating device 18...First conveyance device 19...Second'# feeding device 20...Laminated plate delivery robot 21...Drying device 22...Laminated plate receiving device 30. ...Laminated plate 3L 32...Roll coater 33, 34...Ink reservoir 35, 36.37.38...Doctor blade 39,
40...Resist ink unapplied area 41...Resist ink applied area 42, 43...Endless belt 44...Press rollers 46, 47...Drive roller 5152...Drive roller 53...Endless Heald 54... Spring clips 55, 56... Holes 61-64... Robot pins 71, 72... Drying device pins Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 6 Fig. 7

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. When manufacturing a printed wiring board by patterning the conductive layer of a laminate in which conductive layers are laminated on both sides of an insulating board,
Applying resist ink to both the front and back sides of the laminate at the same time while forming a portion on which no resist ink is applied along at least one opposing side of both sides of the laminate; A method for manufacturing a printed wiring board, which comprises transporting it while holding it and then drying it. 2. The laminated plate is conveyed horizontally between a pair of upper and lower ink rollers, and resist ink is applied to both the front and back sides of the laminated plate. After the laminated plate is conveyed by applying the rollers to both edges that are not coated with resist ink, one of the laminated plates is A hole formed in the side edge is gripped by a robot arm, the laminate is rotated 90 degrees around a horizontal axis to a vertical position, and then a pin is passed through the hole and suspended, and the laminate is successively placed in this vertical position. 2. The method of manufacturing a printed wiring board according to claim 1, wherein the resist ink is dried by passing through a drying area.